Female gaelic games players are set to receive the same amount of funding as their male counterparts. Under the current model, male players receive €1,200 from the state while female players just €400.
A total of €3.7m was paid out by the Government to support Gaelic games players last year, with €3m being made available for male players and teams, and €700,000 for female players and teams.
The allocation for females will now be trebled while the male amount will remain the same.
Speaking in an interview Grace Clifford, Captain of the Kildare ladies football team said it was, “great news for everyone involved in ladies football.”
“This grant just enables us to use more professional services like places to do recovery, training facilities, basic things that the men’s teams wouldn’t even have to think of.” said Clifford.
Clifford said historically there has been, “a lack in promotion of the game,” which she believes is directly impacted by the lack of funding in women’s football.
Clifford believes that Ladies Football has as much to offer as the men’s teams adding, “the more funding we get the more we are able to push the boundaries on women’s sports and increase the professionalism of the game.
She is optimistic that the increase in funding will increase the promotion of the game. Clifford hopes that in the near future, “watching Ladies football on television and reading about it in the newspaper will be the norm.”
Clifford said the amalgamating of the GPA and the WGPA “has been huge,” adding “now it’s not about gender it’s just about inter-county players” She hopes to it go further, “that the LGFA will soon go under the GAA umbrella.”
